Corners of the house

Just a few random snaps from different corners of the house.

First, a figurine of Mr Samuel Whiskers - Beatrix Potter character and rat-at-large. I thought he was a mouse at first. I acquired him from the op-shop on Tuesday and couldn't resist his cheeky expression.

Second, the two goblins who guard our front door from atop the bookcase closest to it. They don't have names as yet - any suggestions?

Finally, proof positive for all my European friends that down here in the South, the world is topsy-turvy. This is a truly bizarre looking passionfruit we pulled off the vine last night. Bright red almost gruesome looking seeds (think pomegranate) and squishy orange skin. Only my DH was brave enough to eat some...

Six degrees of Press Gang

Do you do this? I have a habit of associating essentially disassociated things in my mind. Take these two for example. Press Gang, a brilliant series for 'youth' from the last 80s starring a young Julia Sawalha and Dexter Fletcher (amongst others) and British band the Sundays, also from the last 80s/early 90s. That's where the story ends - both were about at the same time. But in my mind they're all rolled up into one, each acting as a soundtrack and background for the other, along with big earrings, curly bobs, oversized jumpers and t-shirts and too-big bows.

We're having a heatwave

Hot, hot, hot here at the moment. Or, should I say, mostly humid. February is often the hottest month so I shouldn't be surprised having lived through 36 of them. It's just that, as I've mentioned before, I'm not what you'd call a summer person. Each day of late has been much the same - throw open the windows and doors in the morning in the hope of some air swishing through the house and then close everything up again at about lunchtime as the scales tip in favour of the sun and the house starts to heat up once again. Our house does stay quite cool for at least the first few days of a heatwave it must be said, being made of double brick. It is only when the bricks themselves heat up that things start to get truly sticky. What I've noticed with this sort of weather - and perhaps this is just me - is that you wake up each morning feeling sort of chewed over, for want of a more eloquent phrase. It could be more because of my ongoing back issues but that, with the heat as well, means I am not really sleeping, so morning comes, and I don't really feel that there's been any significant break from the previous day at all. Oh well! On a more positive note, summer (like the extremes of winter, I guess) reminds us of our relative position in the universe. We really are still very much dependent upon the weather, the seasons and nature as a whole. And that's a good thing to keep in mind.

I thought of taking some photos for this blog - clear blue skies, blanched white sunlight - but then I realised that what I really needed to do was to record the sounds of summer - the buzzing mosquitos, chirping parrots, trilling crickets and gathering winds of an approaching storm. And I don't know how to do that. So, I say let the Muppets speak for me instead. We're having a heatwave!

Play misty for me

It has been really humid here this last week or so. Not blazing heat - sure, I'll acknowledge that - but humid, wherein a damp slick of perspiration is perpetually on your skin. So it's been lovely to have a little temperature drop overnight, a constant mist falling gently from the skies today and the plants getting a much needed drink. Poor babies. Although something is having a very nice meal in - or should I say of - my front yard: a bit of lemon balm for the mains and then a nibble of rose petal for dessert. Hmmm...Now that I look closely at the photo of the lemon balm, I see a telltale snail trail...

Thankyou Thursday

Two lovely cyberfriends of mine have sent some awards my way! How very nice. First up, dear Dilly at Dilly's Castle (http://gweenwagons.blogspot.com/) has awarded me the Superior Scribblers award - thank you Dilly! - and then her sweet brother Bob over at Bob T. Bear (esq.)'s Diary (http://bobs-diary.blogspot.com/) has awarded the Sweet Friends award to all of his regular blogging friends because he couldn't pick out just one recipient. Thanks Bob! Of course I don't blog to receive accolades - truly, it's just a lot of fun - but it does give me a good case of the warm-and-fuzzies to receive nice awards from these two friends of mine.

As part of the conditions of the Superior Scribblers award, you must nominate someone else for the award and so I nominate my very good friend Bodecea over at Bodecea's Palaver (http://bodecea.blogspot.com/) As for the Sweet Friends award, I think I'll follow Bob's lead and award it to all the lovely people who regularly stroll through the Yellow Wood! As another part of this one, I am asked to list 10 things that make me happy and try to do one today. Ok...

1. Sitting in my backyard as dusk falls watching the birds fly home to their nests.

2. Eating vanilla ice-cream with chocolate topping and sprinkles (my summertime addiction).

3. Picking herbs from my garden, putting them in a vase and then enjoying their aroma as I walk past them dotted around the house.

4. Having a milk coffee mid-morning, with two gingernut biscuits on the side.

5. Feeling enthusiastic about whatever it is I might be doing.

6. Listening to a CD that exactly matches whatever mood I might be in.

7. Chatting about the day's events with my DH as we sit in the evening breeze.

8. Doing the newspaper's trivia quiz with my DH over breakfast.

9. Biting into a perfectly ripe peach.

10. Reading something that gives me a new idea or at least something to think about.

Thanks again Dilly & Bob! Hugs x

Conditions of the Superior Scribbler Award are as follows:

1. Nominate someone else for it.

2. Post the Award on your blog.

3. Mention that the Award came originally from here: http://scholastic-scribe.blogspot.com/

Sit. Stay.

I may have mentioned before that in the course of my life, I have taken a number of journeys with the black dog of depression very firmly in tow. The last 12 months or so have been the longest of our walks together. But of late I have just started to feel a little bit of the old me returning, with a little bit of the (hopefully) 'new and improved' thrown in for good measure. Things that were once so interesting but for a year were not even worth looking at are suddenly interesting again. And as a result my desk is a buzzing hive of busyness - books piled upon books, 'ideas' notebooks being started with enthusiasm and regularly added to, projects which had been relegated to the 'too-hard' basket are being returned to and finished off...last night I even thought it may be worth having a notepad by the bed, because I was still thinking of things as I dozed off. Or perhaps I am learning to better ride the natural peaks and troughs of life and to grab the times when the Muses are with me with both hands - to make hay, as it were, before I sit quietly alone again.

Down amongst the long grass

Faeries and Goblins, depicted by the brilliant Brian Froud

While we're on the subject of alternate worlds and worlds between worlds, I have been reading a lot about faeries (or fairies) of late. Although they have mostly been reduced to the Tinkerbell variety in modern Western pop culture, many cultures have strongly believed in 'the Fae Folk' as they can be more authentically regarded, and continue to do so. Certainly in Ireland, for example, Celtic culture had (and has) a strong faith in the existence of Faeries. Throughout Europe, there were (and are) Faeries, Brownies, Elves, Goblins, Disir and Gnomes, to name but a few.

Unlike Tinkerbell, faeries are not always all sweetness-and-light. Sometimes they can be mischevious, sometimes malevolent - as with all entities and energies around us. So, in order to harness some good Fae energy around our little abode, I have installed some wind chimes in our backyard as well as threading a long string of multi-coloured beads which glistens and glitters in the sun (apparently faeries are attracted to the bright and shiny). Our backyard is apparently one which is likely to attract a faerie or two - longish grass in parts (good hiding spots) and not clipped and primped and preened within an inch of its life...others would perhaps call it a mess!

Do you believe in faeries or do you think this is a load of old nonsense? For me, the jury is still out, but either way, I figure the gentle, melodic chiming, the rustle of long grass and the bright glistening of a string of beads is bound to attract some good energy, from somewhere, and spread just a little bit of magic.